That Which Begins And Ends: The Sun Reflects Upon The Seas
With only a single entrance left that gave way to Genesis, a city well hidden beneath the mountains. The city could seemingly accommodate up to 20,000 people with its 20 levels and had all the usual amenities found in other cities above the ground, such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels. Sitting at the most upper floor on a stone chair, the one closest to the outside, Dagda waited until his opponent would show up. From what he heard, his opponent was supposed to be unbeatable at day, something he found rather strange. None the less, he could find nothing about battles in the night with that slayer so to be on the safe side he would fight where the sun wouldn't be able to penetrate its light. If it meant he had to stay away from his own main element, that was a gamble he had to take. Whirrrrr... A distinct rumbling sound could be heard. A faint outline of a circle- manifested with golden energy, carved itself around a solitary wall within the city- coincidentally near Dagda's chair. BLAM! In an explosion of light, a nifty entrance was forged. "You're the one?" A pale girl with hair as white as her skin stepped out. Dressed in an orange ensemble, topped with her silver pigtails extending out of her hat, this young woman was Sherry Surugan, noted to be the strongest Solar Dragon Slayer to exist. She didn't look too impressed. Just by a single glance, she could seemingly tell everything about this young man. Releasing a tired sigh from not only how his opponent entered, but also from who his opponent was, Dagda stood up as if there was nothing to worry about with his opponent. "Depends on what you specifically want to know with that question young girl" Looking his opponent over, he could guess why there would be no data on the fights in the evening or night if she was that flashy. "Is your mother maybe a lazy cat girl? Not to mention those twin-tails you are wearing, aren't you a bit too old for that hairstyle?" Taking a few steps towards the stair for the lower levels of the city, his best chances would be to lure this opponent into the darkness to keep her from recharging while also allowing him the cover of darkness. Truthfully, she didn't know what Dagda was talking about on the first insult. "Who writes your insults? Your mother?" She span around slightly. "And just so you know, I can fight in any battlefield." Despite this, Sherry opted to remain back- and in a flash of light, her staff appeared within her hands, constantly glowing with magical energy- a sign of it's power. Seeing her pull out a weapon while at the same time stating she could fight in any battlefield was rather amusing, without the sun to power here she might not be as invincible as the stories tell. "Nah, my mother dislikes writing insults. Same here, all improvisation girl. So let's go into the darkness for our fight so that your precious sun can't protect you any more." Smirking a bit, he ran down the stairs into the labyrinth that was this underground necropolis where no light would be able to touch any more. "Simple." Sherry's staff's head began to glow illustriously, as she swiped her arm out; a faint shadow emanated from her body, before it disappeared. Inconsequentially, and instantly, eternano surrounded her lithe frame, swirling around her in a similar manner to a miniaturized typhoon. As the eternano fully engulfed her figure, Sherry Surugan vanished in the blink of an eye. "Huh?" The eternano which once amassed itself around Sherry's body faded away, as she reappeared at the end of the stairs. "Took ya long enough, ya dip." She swung her staff around, aiming it like a spear towards Dagda. "Your move, bucko." Seeing the teleportation of his opponent, Dagda just looked bored at Sherry as his body glowed blue for a few seconds while he kept walking towards her. "It took me this long since unlike you, I take my time. Why teleport if I can walk or run?" Covering his body in water, solidifying it while he created a dragon's tail at the same time as his dragon scales finished solidifying, he held out his hands in sight before stopping in front of her. "Now lets not forget our manners, what is your name young girl?" Trying to grab her staff with his tail at the same time as he tried to grab her hands, he continued speaking. "A girl looking as good as you shouldn't have to dirty herself with fighting, so why not solve this without hurting each other?" "I don't need to introduce myself to somebody I'm going to destroy." With those words, Sherry's magical aura discharged from the very centre of her being, taking the visage of a brilliant shine that illuminated the area, dispelling the darkness. It was obvious- since Solar was an element composed of flame and light, then she could exert full power over both of them. Seconds before, her staff's regular form shattered, revealing a snake-blade that seemed to be about two meters in length. Instantly, Sherry lashed the snake-blade known as Vortigern forward towards Dagda's face at near blinking-speeds. "Now, now, that is no way to respond young girl. Why not behave a bit more feminine?" As the blade made a sound of impact the wind of the impact threw up some dust covering what happened to the slash while Dagda kept his calm appearance towards the girl in front of him. As the dust started to settle down again, one could see a rather interesting sight with how the whip blade was held by the water-tail of Dagda. "That is a dangerous weapon you are wielding girl, it might even damage you if you are not careful with your own weapon." As he spoke, his tail coiled around the segments, crushing them the moment he finished speaking. He would have to find a way to deal with her without having to use so much strength to withstand the impact, or else he would have to resort to more barbaric means. Something he didn't like to do with a girl this cute. Trying to grab one of her hands again, he tried to keep his appearance as open and disarming as possible. "What is your name sweetheart?" "Heh." Sherry ignored Dagda's words, as she smirked while jumping back. "You don't know the most dangerous element of that weapon. The poison imbued within it can kill dragon slayers." Sherry, however, was immune to the poison- as it was her weapon, there would be no point in modifying it into something that would hurt her. Storing the sword away in her front pocket... It was time to shake things up a bit. "Soul Mirror." In an instant, Sherry manifested her darkness magic, forming not two, but three complete replicas of the real deal. "Lightning Disobey." Charging up lightning in her fingertips, Sherry unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning from her fingertips. A deafening crack like thunder resounded throughout the air as the lightning left her fingertips; and the temperature suddenly rose from the air becoming superheated by such a spell. As a shōnen rule, she'd be pissed if her foe suddenly appeared behind her. Roaring with a crackling sound as it streaked throughout the atmosphere, the Lightning Disobey locked onto the water tail of Dagda Aurora at high speeds. Sherry had a sudden feeling, that Dagda would dodge such a strike. Just to be sure, two of her disappeared, leaving only a single Sherry Surugan to combat this foe. "Good thing then that that poison couldn't reach me. Mind teaching me how to make that poison together with the anti-dote for that poison girl?" Looking at the clones of this girl, Dagda liked what he saw. Instead of one cute girl, he would face four cute girls at once. Seeing the lightning come to him, he got an idea he would like to try while swinging his tail towards the lightning, making sure the tail got detached the moment it was thrown. "Water Dragon's Crushing Fang" Covering one of his hands in a rapid flow of water, he made a slashing motion towards the lightning without moving from his place this time. Followed by his slash was a trail of water that functioned like a barrier of sorts in case there would be more lightning attacks coming after him, something he didn't really wanted to experience. Recreating his tail again, Dagda made a face as if he pondered something. "Why are there only two cute girls now instead of the four i saw before you began using that lightning attack? I liked seeing four girls all equally nice looking as the original." The moment that Water Dragon's Crushing Fang and Lightning Disobey cancelled each other out, Sherry's eyes began to blaze red. "Soul Mirror!" She shouted, "To the force of ten!" In an instant, two more Soul Mirror duplicates flanked Dagda's sides; it was clear now that Sherry Surugan was playing mind games...A forte in which she excelled. While next to her foe, the duplicates clapped their hands together, releasing a massive shock wave, a massive blast of pure concussive force that possessed the same power as one of Sherry's strongest punches. These shock waves were in such close proximity to her foe that was assured (or not) that he would have little time to react properly! Not only this, the other replica of Sherry Surugan leapt downwards above Dagda, her fist gathering and condensing eternano. Now, it was time for the main event! "Moon..." Those terrifying words erupted from Sherry's mouth; as she fuelled her magic with negative feelings, initiating the usual fusion of eternano and magical power, only manifesting magical power in a dark and malefic nature—before using Shape Transformation in order to mold the darkness into the form of a sinister-looking hound that appeared as if it was pulled from hell itself. "...Dog!" With a bestial howl, the hound of darkness shot downwards like a highway collapsing onto helpless people without any remorse. "Jeez, if you don't like being complimented you can just say so girl." Raising both hands to his side as if he wanted to capture the shock waves, Dagda adjusted his scales to be more fluid as water instead of sturdy as steel in order to disperse the energy easier. Hearing a voice above him at the same time as he felt the shock waves come clashing down on him, he grunted a bit in annoyance as this turned out a bit more troublesome than he had hoped. Expelling Eterano around his hands underneath the scales, he redirected the energy upwards towards the howl he heard. What followed during the impact was not only a rather big explosion that covered both Dagda and the clones of Sherry Surugan in smoke and dust, but also destroyed the pillars close by that supported the stair to the outsides. Coughing in the dust cloud, Dagda changed his scales back to the sturdy form while giving of a faint glow again as he covered his body with water again. "Mind not trying to crush my bones or killing me girl? While I like playing rough as well, those two were dangerous." While Dagda managed to redirect most of the energy of the attack and shock waves, his hands got stiff to the point that moving them was harder than normal. Not going to stay in the same floor as this fighter, he used the last piece of cover from the smoke to go to the stairs for a lower floor, deeper in the darkness. Leaping backwards, Sherry uttered, "Short Jump." Eternano whirling around her lithe frame, enormous amounts of magical energy engulfed her entire body- and in an instant, Sherry vanished- and reappeared slightly above Dagda. While she could easily outspeed almost anyone- teleportation was infinitely easier, and she didn't want to waste energy. Hovering above Dagda Aurora, the moment that her feet touched the ground, a pulse of darkness was released from her body- this stygian energy rose up, into more replicas of herself. Raising her hand, Sherry gathered and condensed eternano upon her hand, charged by her magical power as to rapidly excite the constituent particles of eternano, being launched as a beam of energy that blasted a hole within the building, opening up a room for air. "Now!" With a single wave of her hand, Sherry ordered her duplicates to gather their own eternano, launching rays upon rays of energy at Dagda. While some were wildly off-mark, she used the curving feature in order to warp them towards him. It seemed like an inescapable attack... Grinning, Dagda just stood there while creating two more barriers with his crushing fang. "Seems you got really impatient there girl, you just went for the prize." Gathering Magic Power in his mouth, Dagda began to shape it into a powerful stream of highly condensed boiling water that he sharpened through shape transformation before firing it towards Sherry, the approximate location of her clones and the rays of energy. Water Dragons Roar was all he mentally said while using the attack to not only try to hit his opponent while getting blasted with rays of energy but also damage the surrounding cave. From above Sherry, another Dagda prepared his roar, although this one was ice-cold while being as blunt as a hammer through shape transformation. Water Dragons Roar was all he mentally said as he fired it off towards what Dagda estimated towards Sherry her blind spot at the exact same time as the one below Sherry. Now came the hardest part for this trap to work, crushing the complete necropolis while his opponent got buried with it as well. Activating his dual element mode , Dagda placed his left hand on the ground as he first solidified the ground beneath his feet while liquefying the entire floor that Sherry most likely would stand on, turning it into a kind of glue in its liquid form. As the floor turned into liquid glue, all the remaining walls turned into sand as the rest of the necropolis came crashing down on Sherry, sherry her clones and Dagda his two clones just moments after the clones fired of their dragon roars towards the female slayer. Hopefully, that would make her a bit more serious if she survived it. Maybe he would even see her solar style if the little girl survived. "Damn thing." Beneath the metropolis, Sherry slammed her fist into the ground at tremendous speeds with over ten tonnes behind her blow- the shock wave released deflected the Dragon's Roar- it wasn't that she had an advantage, but more that, through a sneak application of her true magic at full output, the sheer power turned the water into vapor through sheer heat. *WHAM!* A loud and extremely powerful tremor roared throughout the ground, shaking the ground itself to the very core- such a powerful force would shake the battlefield for the remainder of the clash. "Time to kick it up a notch." The force of this strike crushed the very earth, leaving an array of cracks and craters in the ground; from which birthed an array of earthen spires which threatened to skewer her foe in completely random places. These shock waves tore apart the surroundings, as fissures erupted from the ground which lead deep into the darkest of oceans. The water couldn't help itself. In an instant, an entire mass of water erupted from the ground like a horribly malfunctioning fountain- this was the strength that defeated a Guild Ace, that was for sure. The water continued to ascend to the heavens, mimicking a rainstorm as it refused to cease. In such a situation, complete zen was a benefit. Sherry Surugan rose from the remains of the city, clutching her arm; which seemed to be wounded. Several Soul Mirror clones manifested, and then the clones tapped their feet on the ground, declaring, "Shukuchi." The clones leapt up and down, dragging out the noise so that the sound of their feet tapping on the ground wasn't heard until after their feet had left the floor again. Once the sound lag was at its fullest, they leapt forward like a bullet train, producing a sonic boom that destroyed almost everything in front of and behind themselves sans their others, hoping to drive at their foes point-blank. As Sherry moved, she released a distinct noise akin to glass shattering, and on the ground she left craters in her wake with every step that she took; the surrounding atmosphere around her rippled as though from waves of heat with an occasional discharge of electricity; leaving after-images as she moved. Each of the clones were accompanied by incredibly powerful razor-like winds that possessed the power to leave shock waves that devastated the area. Not only that...they were coated in some sort of fusion between heat and light—needless to say, if her opponent made contact, he would get burnt, water or not. Crap, didn't think she would get so annoyed with me dropping that city on her. Taking a defensive pose while reinforcing his own scales while remodelling them to disperse as much of the energy as possible, Dagda tried to position himself in such a way that the attacks would push him to the water instead of away from the water. Gritting his teeth as he let the clones hit him with the shock waves, he tried his best to endure the burning on his body as his scales had to be reformed on an almost constant basis thanks to the constant shattering of them by Sherry her hands. Just a little bit more... As the last attack got him close to the lake that his opponent had created during their fight so far, he actually showed a smile while jumping backwards towards the water. If he didn't find another opening soon, his opponent would most likely outlast him in terms of stamina and endurance... Eating some of the water as he was submerged in it himself, his body gave of the same faint glow as during his other two clones. Jumping up, out of the water where two body's of Dagda, although these also had wings on their back. Water Dragon's Wings as both of them descended with wings, tails and scales active at the same time. "Didn't knew you would get that pissed over me dropping that city on you, but when will you tell me your name? Maybe we can even stroll along the beach this night after our fight." I know what your game is. Sherry mused to herself- a faint shadow was emitted from her body once more. What could this mean? "So what if you've got your strength back. Even if a dog learns new tricks it's still a dog." She gritted her teeth. This arm was getting annoying. Looking up to the night sky- the golden full moon, her pupils contacted as she opened her mouth- devouring the...moonlight!? It was so simple. Moonlight was the light that reached Earth Land from the moon, consisting mostly of sunlight, with some starlight and earthlight reflected from those portions of its surface which the light of the sun struck. Therefore, all she needed to do was filter out the earth and starlight- and it'd serve as a great replacement for sunlight. In an instant, Sherry's arm returned to normal. "Alright, let's continue." She said with a smirk. Swoosh. Swiftly, Sherry vanished in the blink of an eye- having utilized Short Jump once more. She reappeared above Dagda, Vortigern in her hands, ready to strike. In addition, numerous Soul Mirror duplicates manifested as well- the snake-blades whipped around in a violent frenzy. Seeing Sherry eat the moonlight got Dagda scratching his head for a bit, a solar dragon slayer that filtered out the useless forms of light in order to absorb the sun light in the night. While it would make the battle more difficult than he expected, it was fun. Most that he encountered didn't think of ways to eat their element in a different way than the obvious ways like eating the flames of a fire or lighting from a power plant. Or in the case of a solar user, most didn't think to filter or even attempt to eat sunlight as they most likely believed that solar energy could only be eaten at day, never at the night. And did he saw that correctly? Did she actually smirk while wanting to continue? "Seems i finally got you to enjoy our match ma chérie." Jumping backwards and in the air when he could fly straight up without bumping in one of Sherry her clones or herself, both Dagda's fired of another dragon roar towards Sherry, the left one being as cold as possible while being made sharp enough to pierce steel while the right one was using boiling water while giving it more of a blunt impact strong enough to break through armor like a war hammer would in the medieval times. Unlike the common expectation of the target, the left one didn't have a solid target since it was fired of in the general direction of Sherry where-as the right one did have a solid target, the Sherry that he had kept an eye on so as to target the original instead of one of the clones she used in their match. "Defenser." The replications of Sherry whispered- magical energy gathered around their bodies, as Sherry sunk her Darkness Magic into the barriers that were forged- a sphere of black pulsating energy manifested on all of the duplicates, successfully defending themselves from the attack- however, Sherry herself vanished in the blink of an eye- perhaps she used Teleportation Magic again? Rising up, she passed Dagda in her ascent—only for her dark aura to begin to be emanated from her very being. "Phantom..." Sherry's magical seal exploded forward—using her negative feelings in order to fuel her next attack, the magical energy being formed turned a dark crimson. "Death Spear!" A myriad of spiked lances shot forth from her seal—chasing after Dagda at amazing speeds, the spears wouldn't stop in their firing rate- flying around wildly. It felt like a geometric curtain of death was being formed at this very moment. Grinning at Sherry her choice of spells, both Dagda's changed their wings and armours a bit for more speed and agility while they quickly sped up to speeds that would have crushed the internal organs of most humans. So the girl didn't want to use her solar slayer art and instead relied more on her other spells? Then the girl wasn't worth the title of a dragon slayer in the first place. Gathering the water in the air on their fingers as they made a perfect vertical descent to the earth before pulling up at the very last moment, making some of the phantom spears crash on the earth as the change was too sudden with not enough time not to crash in the earth, applying transformation on the nails as one of them kept firing the water nails at high speed towards not only Sherry her clones, but also against the spears that kept chasing them while the other one made a bow of water, followed by an arrow of the same substance. "Lets see you respond to this." Charging not only a rather sizeable amount of his own magic, but also making the pull of the string as heavy as he could, he kept tweaking the arrow in sharpness, changing the fletchings, of the arrow, tweaking the endurance between stiff and flexible while he kept pumping more and more power in the arrow itself until he got close enough in his own eyes to fire the shot towards Sherry while the other Dagda kept using the water claws in rapid succession. If she would be foolish enough to let the arrow hit, it would not only pierce through to her hearth, it would also envelop her in an explosion strong enough to level a complete city block. If the girl chose to evade, he would let the arrow explode as close to Sherry as possible, where-as blocking would only stop the arrow, while still allowing the explosion to set in. "Pretty good." Sherry smirked. "You're not a bad fighter." However... A mystical aura flared up- from darkness to light, an extraordinary change was underwent- a gigantic, azure and scarlet dragon manifested behind her- the spirit of the Tyrant Dragon, Vritra. "Solar Dragon's..." Sherry's body shone brilliantly. And now, Sherry's dragon aura haughtily blowing up storm winds- she gathered solar energy from the sun into her mouth- , would perform a miracle of genesis. Sherry triumphantly shouted a declaration. "...ROAR!" Heaven screamed, and Earth shook. An enormous collection of solar energy was released, grinding at the area itself. The blast was not aimed at anyone in the first place. It was no longer a matter of aiming at anyone. What Solar Dragon's Roar would strike could not be contained to simply 'her opponent'. The tumult of genesis took everything that was nothing more than chaos which could not form any meaning, and created a new truth that divided and distinguished the immediate vicinity. The solar wind pressure emitted by the spell created a vacuum that took all things with form, the land, the atmosphere, and the sky, exposing it to the immense flames of the sun released from Sherry's mouth, causing her to dazzle like a star of creation amidst the destruction, the first thing illuminating the area. This amazing spell, would surely vaporize her opponent's means of defences- she wasn't holding back anymore. Seeing a dragon behind Sherry, both Dagda's stopped in their tracks as they looked on in amazement or was it surprise what could be seen on their faces. Hearing her finally use a slayer technique, they began to look at their opponent again instead of the dragon behind her. Seeing her roar come towards them, both could only utter a single word while they tried to dodge it by getting high enough in the atmosphere. Needless to say, the wind pressure combined with the vacuum and the range her roar affected pulled them back down to earth as they crashed down to earth, being pressed down by the wind pressure that also managed to keep the flames out of their reach while the heat could still be felt as if they were getting tanned beneath a solarium. Lying on the ground with only his tail and wings still active, covered with the earth, stones, trees and more that got uprooted by Sherry her dragon roar both couldn't help but laugh as they lied there on the ground. "Finally, you are using the teachings of your dragon. Took you long enough if we do say so, although none of us expected that dragon behind you." Opening his mouth, both took a deep breath as they ate the water to heal themselves a bit to get more time. It was actually rather simple once one got the hang of it, the air around them on the planet consisted of more than oxygen. Carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen nitrogen,oxygen and argon all could be found in the air everyone breathed in. And if one would not only follow the teachings of their dragon, but also ask to be taught how to eat their element from the air around them like he saw Aquamarian do when she was training him with no access to water, one would learn that the components could be found in the air as well. By studying those components, one could eventually learn to filter the components needed for their element like a light dragon slayer or in the case he was facing, a solar dragon slayer if their parent would take the time to teach them that instead of continuing on with the other techniques one needed to learn. While this meant his spells were not as powerful or as abundant as those of other slayers, it also meant that he could replenish energy and magic the same way as a sky dragon slayer, by devouring the air instead of normal water. Finishing the filtering while devouring the air, both of them slowly stood up albeit rather unsteady for the time being. "So, what made you finally get serious if you would be so kind as to answer us?" While speaking, they tried to cover themselves with the scales again which seemed to occur slower as before this time. Instead of being able to cover himself in just up to four seconds, this time it took noticeable longer to solidify his water into the scales that managed to protect him so far. Category:Dragon Slayer Royale